MuleyMadness Hunting Forums

To all you elk hunters out there, what would be your choice of bullets for a muzzleloading elk hunt in Colorado where sabots are not legal. I understand that I will need to experiment with my gun to see which bullet groups the best but thought someone might have some experience on bullet performance. I have never shot an animal that big with a muzzle loader so I do not know what to expect.

250 grain bullet or larger + 100 grains of FF2 should do the trick. I have tried 300-500 grain bullets as well and gotten great accuracy, but you will likely need to reduce the powder a bit.

Thanks I have been looking at the Powerbelts but have heard that they did not expand well on whitetails. Also looking at the great plains bullet but I think it is solid lead and was worried about penetration should i hit a major bone on the way in.

You might take a look at Thor's and FPB's if they shoot well for you. A bit pricey though.

dahlmer wrote:You might take a look at Thor's and FPB's if they shoot well for you. A bit pricey though.

The Hornady FPB is a good choice, although the reviews I've read everywhere are about a 50:50 split for love:hate. However, if your gun "likes" them they are a sweet shooting bullet.
I shoot Hornady & got great expansion and knock down on mule deer the last two seasons.
Couldn't pay me to change.

These will be a great choice. Basically a full bore Barnes bullet.

http://thorbullets.com/

I need to check out those Thor bullets. I normally use the Hornady Great Plains bullets. I have also used a TC lead conical with the felt gas checks. I don't remember the name of them because it's been a while since I shot them. I have a bunch of Powerbelts but I won't use them in the field. They fall out of the barrel of my gun if they come loose from the plastic gas check. When your barrel is clean, take a gas check off a Powerbelt and drop it down the barrel. See if it drops all the way to the breach. To me, that's too loose. If I tip the muzzle to the floor, they fall right out. For gun I load at the begining of the season and carry around the whole time, I want to make sure the bullets still in the barrel when the big one walk out in the open. Check you gun because I think there's variation in actual bore diameter. They may fit great in some guns. FWIW, there are some rifling marks in recovered Powerbelts so they must be soft enough to squash a little when fired. I dig them out of the sand bank at the range. I actually thought about gluing the gas check to the Powerbelt bullet.